Topher Lydon

Many thanks to Cia, my spirit guide through the wonderfully new way of publishing stuff on here. The first chapter is up, first new thing I have published/written/worked on in a long while. I will admit to nerves.

Warwickshire, West Midlands, United Kingdom “I don't need to stress the threat,” Sir Edward Prout's voice was tight over the phone as Andrew Carter walked through the gate of the small, rural house in the middle of the West Midlands countryside. The Director General of MI5 brokered no fools. “Templeman is waiting for you, this is your case, but I want the local police to retain the lead on the investigation. If there are any... problems, Templeman will smooth the ruffled feathers, I hope th

Operating covertly in London, CSIS Senior Intelligence Officer Andrew Carter lives a double life, juggling diplomatic appearances with dangerous intelligence work. His uneasy calm is shattered by the murder of Arthur Finch. Andrew's investigation quickly unravels a terrifying state-sponsored plot. As the pieces connect, he uncovers an audacious scheme: to orchestrate a catastrophic submarine disaster facilitated by a deep-cover mole within the Royal Navy. With MI5's trust hanging by a thread and his own family unknowingly exposed, Andrew races against time.

So here I am at 4:47 am, in need of a cup of coffee, and open office's damn Spell checker decided to break. Like dead, broke...gone, given up the ghost.... I mean I am notoriously a terrible speller (just read one of my books) but seriously? I miss the old Microsoft Office bootleg copy I had on my old computer... say what you will about evil, soulless corporate monoliths, at least the spell check worked. Forgive the old man rant... I need coffee.

I have been asked, and I will confirm that there is a new Carter Book in writing. I have toyed with returning to the series for a very long time. I was discussing it with a couple of readers via private message, encouraging me to do it. There will be some compromises made to get it written. 1. It will need to be written from Andrew's perspective. The evolution of the character in Carter's Recourse puts him squarely in a position to take the lead on this story. 2. There will need to be a passage of time. Coming back to find a characters voice after a long absence will mean I need room to explain character growth and changes in them. 3. I am going to need some patience on it, writing a complex plot that does it justice is not easy. We will see if I can actually pull it off. CSIS, Mustangs, and Ice Hockey coaches do not just jump into saving the world... again. ... damn it there goes that excuse. What I can tell you now is that there is a working title: Carter's Breach a rather... apt title for what I have planned. Water... lots of water.

Oh man, you'd not be the first.

Who?

Thank you all. The people who inspired this. Wil, Marty, Allison, Marc-Andre and so many others. It was started and written over a course of three years, it started on a desk in a call center at the lowest point in my life. I think, honestly, those books saved my life. So much of my raw pain is in those pages, and it was healing to write them. I couldn't have written it without the real world people supporting me, stepping in and caring for me like those characters in the book. I've struggled since those books, health and other life reasons. I earned my Professor-title, taught students, been in some of the weirdest, most insane places in the world. I worked for a time for the UN, I've slept in mud huts, and in luxury hotels. Eaten with a king, talked all night with broken souls, and shared bread with whoever needed it. I've raised my own adopted son, Jacob, and am proud of him beyond my wildest imaginings. Been in love and been loved by giants of souls. Made mistakes, cried, fought, lost, and always, ALWAYS got back up again and gave as good as I got. Thank you Prof. Christopher Patrick Lydon. (A scruffy Brit who wears glasses and drinks too much coffee)

Well... you know what I meant. (and I didn't actually know that, so... grrr you for pointing out something I missed)

Canada House, I've been in it.

I am discovering that Blake has a taste for Baptist boys

Official Secrets Act, if Andrew violates it, even for Will, he'd be done and removed from the one place he needs to be. Until he's given permission, he can't break his oath. And given that Will is directly threatened by all this, Andrew has no choice. I wrestled with this very question at the time of writing, I think he made the right call.

Thank you... I've been putting in some work behind the scenes. A rather long weekend of editing on one of the books of the series to finally get it into shape. Minor edits for continuity on other books. The GA site has the most up-to-date versions of these books currently. Thanks I am just re-reading these books myself. I forgot these characters, but they are very raw parts of my personality. So don't judge them too harshly.

I swear *that* is the Mandella Effect at work.

He said it in this chapter. If he went home, he'd never leave it again. It wasn't that he had burned bridges, but the opposite. And as with all the Veterans I have known in my life, the hardest part is leaving people behind. A choice between home cooked meal and love, vs being shot in the sand... West knows he can't resist that temptation, yet.

Yes, I know. This book was written before Shadow. So I do need to go back and re-edit this one at some point. But after the brutal slog that was Duty, my head needs a little down time

You've made me laugh. Thank you.

Yeah I caught that as well, fixing it now.

To be fair, Peter didn't even exist at the time I wrote that book, or the book before. Peter came in the second book of the series which I actually wrote just after writing this one. So It was third or fourth book I actually wrote, I am struggling to remember the exact times I wrote them. I know this book was written just before Shadow was written. Shadow with West's story... man I had to stop writing Recourse to write shadow because I realized one of the key characters needed a back story, and that tied in to Peter's story and yeah... Books evolve, and let me tell you concurrently writing three books at once was not a fun time

Finished... that was... hard. But I think I have gotten the story back to some semblance of... a Carter book. Take it easy on me, again, it was the first book I ever wrote and it shows.

2025 As with all things, mistakes happen. Somethings start out small, and they balloon into an impossible mess of complicated reasoning, excuses, and lies. As Will sat behind his desk trying to finish some notes on a new piece of legislation trying to work its way through the Canadian Senate, he sighed. Rubbing his eyes and removing the reading glasses. When the hell did he get so old, tired, and achy. Forty-seven, going on a hundred. He glanced at the rows of photos ar

There is always a HEA, sometimes it takes a bit of a rocky road.

Some good points, it was probably one of the weakest points in the book. I was approaching it more from an International Charity Organization but can see how I failed to express that in the text. I think I have fixed it now, to tighten that rather frayed story thread.

Again I can feel it. I lacked a certain skill level to get this right. I've been bashing my head on this chapter for the last few hours. I know what I wanted and was trying to say, but it's like beating a piece of metal that's been in a car crash back into shape. No amount of pounding at it is ever going to get it to look right.

I had forgotten that Jeff was the one who broke Will in the end...